Liverpool’s treatment of the Arne Slot situation is giving Jamie Carragher flashbacks to a similar managerial debacle at Man United.
Slot has become quite unpopular at Anfield. The results have not got back on track. The performances have not either. There is a growing sense that Liverpool are sticking with a manager who has not done enough this season to calm the noise around him.
That is where Carragher’s concern comes in. Liverpool are not in the exact same position as United were with Erik ten Hag. Slot won the Premier League in his first season, which gives him a level of credit his fellow Dutchman never had.
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But the warning is still obvious.
Jamie Carragher compares Arne Slot to Erik Ten Hag at Man United
Ten Hag’s first season at Manchester United gave supporters hope. He won the League Cup, finished third in the Premier League and seemed to have brought some order back to Old Trafford.
Then it all started to fall apart.
United were poor in his second season, even if the FA Cup win over Manchester City gave him enough credit to survive the summer. The club kept him, the problems continued, and by October he was gone.
Carragher is worried about history repeating itself at Liverpool.
Speaking on Sky Sports, he said: “And my worry with Liverpool and Arne Slot a little bit is, are we going to be in a situation a little bit like Ten Hag, where he had a great first season, didn’t win the league, Slot won the league, that’s a completely different level.
“But the second season was really poor and then you keep the manager on the back of what he did in his first season and then it carries on poorly.
“And then you get into sort of October, November, you think you’ve got to change the manager. So I think that’s probably a little bit of a fear with Liverpool supporters, but it looks from the things that we’re hearing that Arne Slot’s going to be given another opportunity next season.”
It is not just about Slot’s current output either. It is also about the potential replacement who may soon be heading elsewhere.
Carragher continued: “But there will be a feeling, I think, from a lot of Liverpool supporters that Xabi Alonso is there and if we wanted him, I think he would come to us because of his history with the club.”
Alonso has been heavily linked to Chelsea in recent days, and the Spaniard is apparently open to a move. That would take Liverpool’s best possible option off the table.
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If Slot goes the same way as Ten Hag and is sacked next season, Liverpool could look back at this as a huge mistake with long-lasting consequences.
United are only just getting back to a competitive level after years of post-Ferguson drift. Liverpool cannot afford to let Klopp become their version of Ferguson.
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